Felix Dennis has made a lot of money as a publisher and has written a book called "The Narrow Road,"about the getting of money. Here, from Entrepreneur.com, is one of his key thoughts. He calls it "the fallacy of the Great Idea."
"Having a great idea is not enough. It is the manner in which ideas are executed that counts. Implementation will always trump ideas, however good those ideas are.
I have lost count of the number of men and women who have approached me with their "great idea," as if this, in and of itself, was their passport to instant wealth. The idea is not a passport. At most, it is the means of obtaining one. In some instances, a fixation on a great idea can prove hazardous, distracting your attention from the perils and pitfalls you will inevitably encounter."
I wanted to share that with you because I've had the same experience at my talks and workshops. Don't get me wrong, you do need a great idea, but so many of the people who think they have one come up to me and ask me who they can sell it to (for instance, their great idea for a movie). When I tell them they should write it they say, no, that's too much work or they don't want to learn how to write a screenplay, they just want someone else to do it--maybe me? And they add, generously, that they'd be willing to let me have half of the fortune it would bring in.
Nope, as Dennis says, it doesn't work that way. No idea is great until it turns into a great execution of that idea.
Let me illustrate: a movie about a young space pilot who has to rescue a princess from a nasty empire represented by a guy dressed in black plastic. What do you think--great idea? It certainly turned into a great movie but George Lucas could have started with any of a dozen other fairy tale-inspired plotlines and made magic. And a million other people could have taken that idea and turned it into a ho-hum screenplay.
By all means, enjoy having ideas--it's one of my favorite activities in all the world. But then also sit down and make some of them happen. THAT could be great.
(My newest book,"Creativity Now!" covers not only how to have fresh ideas but also ways to help you bring them to fruition. You can get it from Amazon and other online and offline booksellers.)
